How The Boss Stole Christmas And Reid
by the-vampire-act
Summary: ONESHOT Hotch and Reid celebrate Christmas together.Note: NO SLASH! Please R&R!"


Drabbles About Reid- Chapter 15

How the Boss Stole Christmas (And Reid)

"..aw.......ty all my reviewers!!! and hehe. This started off as a drabble, but then became too long! Whoops! So, tah-duh! And thanks to beth/wilson! U know who u r! Please R&R!"

Spencer Reid smiled as the snow fell outside from outside the window at his workplace. Today was Christmas day, and everyone had today and tomorrow off. But since his parents lived in Las Vegas (his mother the sanitarium, and his father and himself weren't on speaking terms anymore), he found himself wandering to the place where his 'extended' family 'lived'- the BAU in Quantico. Ever since he joined, his team had become his family, and they had all excepted him into their own families.

The relationships he had developed with his co-workers were stronger than any other relationship he had had , and more family-like,too. Morgan played the part of the protective older brother, Prentiss the nosy older sister whose intentions were always for the best, JJ the caring older sister who didn't mind hanging out with him, Hotch and Rossi the 'mom and dad' of the team, and Garcia- the spunky, sassy sister that everyone just had to love to death.

This was his home now, and that was fine with him.

'' Reid? You're still here?" someone called from behind him. Reid turned around, and offered Hotch a small smile.

"Yeah,sir." he answered. Hotch walked over to Reid, and leaned on his chair.

"Why?' he asked. Reid shrugged.

"Just lonely. I guess." he mumbled. Hotch smiled a little at Reid's innocence, and patted his back.

"Get up." he instructed. Reid looked at Hotch as if he had just told him to take his pants off.

"What?" he asked.

"Get up." Hotch repeated.

"Uh.........why?"

"Just trust me." Hotch said. Reid noticed the rare smile on his boss's face, and knew that he was up to something.

"Fine." he said. Once he got up, Hotch grabbed his arm and practically dragged Reid out of the doors of the FBI.

"Wait! Wait!" Reid shouted. Hotch let him go. "Can I at least grab my jacket? It's -10.2 F outside!" Hotch looked as if he was debating on this, but finally agreed.

"Make it quick!" Reid hurriedly grabbed his coat and messenger bag. When he got back to Hotch, he grabbed his arm again, and once again half-dragged him into the parking lot. Once they got outside, they walked to Hotch's car.

"Uh............" Reid said dumbly- unsure of what would be appropriate to say.

"You don't have the excuse that your car would be sitting in the BAU parking lot over Christmas, either. We all know you take the subway." Hotch warned with sarcasm- something that took Reid by surprise. Hotch had never acted this way towards him before.

Before Reid could protest, he was being thrown into Hotch's car as Hotch drove off.

'Dear god he's gonna kidnap me!' Reid thought............

After about half an hour, they finally stopped, and pulled into Hotch's driveway. Hotch got out of the car, and let Reid out. Together, they walked up to Hotch's door, and entered the house.

Reid's mouth immediately dropped when he saw it. It was decorated as if some fancy magazine was going to use his house to show the spirit of the holiday season. His living room- along with every other room in the house- was decorated with various Christmas ornaments, mistletoe, holly, a Christmas tree, candles, ribbons, and presents. Hotch guided his awe-struck agent to his dining room and kitchen- finding his reaction amusing. But, then again, he thought, Reid had never had an actual Christmas before, so he could see why this was all so new to him.

Reid glanced around the kitchen. The stove was red and decorated with little elves and Santa Claus stick-ons. The counter was laced with a fancy red trim and had a small table cloth with a Christmas tree on it -running along the strip of dark wood. He could smell cookies baking in the oven, and was shell-shocked as he peered over to the other side on the kitchen. On a similar strip of dark wood, was a mighty feast of ham, turkey, a tray of fruit and veggies, cranberry sauce, rolls, gravy, chocolate pie, vanilla pudding, various-flavored cupcakes with gum-drops on top, candy canes, eggnog, and coffee.

"Oh my................" Reid started, but his voice drifted off. Hotch smiled at Reid's suspense, and put his hand on Reid's shoulder.

"Merry Christmas, Reid." he said. Then, he lead him to his dining room.

Reid nearly had a heart attack.

The dining room was gorgeous! On a table lining the side on the room , was a collection of snow globes varying in size and color. One had snowflakes, another had a Christmas tree, and one even had candy canes! And the table had a long, elegant red table cloth with gold embroidery. The center piece consisted of a vase shaped in a glass Christmas tree form with snow white and candy cane red roses. And the chairs! They were even decorated! They had a unique cover over then that matched the table cloth, but had a snowflake etched in the middle.

Everything was just so perfect! Reid felt like he was in a Christmas special that he used to watch on TV when his mom was having one of her episodes.

"Reid? Are you okay?" Hotch asked. "You looked really pale. I mean- more than usual." Reid looked back at Hotch- who was staring at him-concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just.............I've never..........the decorations......." Reid stuttered. He looked away from Hotch. He felt embarrassed for acting like such a child.

"I understand. You've never really celebrated Christmas before. At least not like this." Hotch said. But there was something in his tone that made Reid question if he said that last part with a little more meaning. Suddenly, Reid realized why Hotch did this.

"You knew I'd be at the office, didn't you?" he asked. Hotch nodded.

"That's where you always spend your Christmas. And before you ask, yes, I did this for you." he added. Reid stared at him-eyes widening.

"You did this- all of THIS- for me?" his voice cracked. Hotch nodded, and walked closer to Reid. "But WHY?" Reid asked.

Hotch looked at his youngest agent's sad eyes, and frowned. "Because you deserve to celebrate a real Christmas." That was just too much for Reid to comprehend. No one had EVER done anything like this for him before, and he didn't know what he was suppose to do. Fortunately, Hotch had already decided that.

"So, it's always been tradition for the Hotch family to open gifts, then eat dinner."

"Uh.........gifts?" Reid asked nervously- remembering Hotch telling them not to buy him anything.

"Yes,, of course! Oh, and don't worry. If you would've bought me something, I'd most likely fire you." Hotch added. Reid gave him a curious look-unsure if he was kidding or not. "I was kidding." Hotch clarified. Reid smiled at that- remembering that he had in fact gotten something for Hotch.

"That's good, because I did buy you something. I was going to wait until after Christmas so you wouldn't be so mad, because then it couldn't be clarified as a Christmas gift." Reid said.

Hotch chose to ignore that statement. "Okay, so the tree's in the living room." Hotch said as he lead Reid to the living room.

When they got there, Reid looked over the five gifts that awaited him. He was shocked, to say the very least. This would be one of the first times that Reid would get a Christmas gift- the first few being clouded memories full of pain and his parent's fighting again.

Hotch sat down on the couch, and Reid sat next to him. Hotch picked up a square box-shaped present wrapped in shiny gold paper with a red ribbon. He handed it to Reid, and instructed him to open it. Hotch watched as Reid nervously tore the paper off slowly. When he got to the present he smiled. An old leather-bound book entitled 'The Night Before Christmas and Other Christmas Tales' awaited him. Hotch looked at Reid, who was smiling back at him.

"Thank you so much, Hotch. This has got to be one of the best gifts I've ever gotten."

"Well, then you must've gotten some pretty crappy gifts." Hotch joked lightly.

Quickly, Hotch picked up a new box, and sat it on Reid's lap. "I'd be careful- it's fragile." Hotch warned. So Reid carefully undid the front side of the box, and lifted out a snow globe. On the inside, artificial snow fell over a framed picture of the team. Reid smiled, and politely thanked Hotch.

"I've never had a snow globe before." he admitted.

"Really?" Reid nodded. "Well, if you couldn't tell already, I collect them. " Hotch smiled, and then picked up gift #3.

Reid tore at the silver paper with the green bow, and laughed when he saw its contents. It was a photo album with a picture of him drinking coffee on the cover. " You got that first picture from Garcia, didn't you?'' Hotch laughed.

"Ah, no. Surprisingly, Prentiss got that one."

"Well, I'll remember to thank her for that later." Reid joked. He flipped through the album, and smiled at the memories. This was by far his newest favorite book.

Just as Hotch was about to get a new present, Reid stopped him. He took out the gift that he had kept in his messenger bag, and gave it to Hotch.

Hotch raised his eyebrows, and gave Reid a questioning look. "Just open it." Reid rolled his eyebrows. Hotch opened the gift, and smiled- even laughing. He held in his hands a small, gold music box with his name engraved on the side. When he opened it, ' Merry Little Christmas' started to play. The inside was lined with red trim, and in the middle, held a picture of him and the team.

"Thank you so much Reid. You didn't have to." Reid smiled back.

"You didn't have to do all this, either. " Reid noted. Hotch smiled at his young colleague's nervous tone of voice, and went back to passing him the next gift.

This one was a leather notebook that closed with a string. His name was encarved at the bottom of it. On the inside, Hotch had put in a photo of Reid and William that he had gotten from Garcia (who got it from Diana), but Reid never did open it. "Thank you so much,Hotch. I really don't deserve all this."

"Yes you do. And relax -there's only one more gift." Hotch gave Reid the next gift, and he started ripping it open. Inside, was a gold watch with a costume-made center- which didn't hold a picture, but one,single word: Hero.

Suddenly, Reid couldn't control himself anymore. This was all too much. He was no hero. In fact, in his own mind, he was a failure. He couldn't save Adam, he killed a man who tried to save him, he locked his mom in a sanitarium , accused his dad of murder a child, and so many more horrible things.

Hotch sat closer to Reid, and asked, "Are you okay?"

He then looked closely at Reid's eyes, and noticed the tears that were starting to form. "Reid, no. You don't have to cry. I did this for you because I wanted to. " But that didn't seem to calm Reid anymore. If anything, it made matters worse. Reid began to cry even more. Hotch pulled Reid closer to him, and hugged him like a father should when his son was crying.

"I'm sorry." Reid said through his tears. Hotch stroked Reid's hair soothingly. He couldn't believe this! Reid- who he thought of as a son- was crying on Christmas because he had done something that most families did every year. He inwardly cursed at Reid's father for treating his son so badly.

"Don't apologize- you didn't do anything wrong." Hotch whispered.

"I'm sorry, Hotch! You........you did all this for me, and I just start crying like a child! I'm so sorry!" Reid cried.

"No, stop,Reid. It's okay. Really! It's not your fault. Just stop crying." Hotch soothed. Reid cried on Hotch's chest as he stroked his back. "It's okay."

Reid nodded, and sat up. He wiped away his tears, and smiled. "Thank you, Hotch. For everything." Hotch smiled back, and patted Reid on the shoulder.

"It really was no trouble,Reid. I wanted to do this." Hotch hugged Reid one last time, and stood up. Reid followed suit.

"Let's go eat some Christmas dinner. " Hotch declared. With that, the two men set off for dinner..........

After dinner, Reid and Hotch sat down on his couch to watch the animated classic 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas.' But, half way through it, Reid had fallen to sleep. Hotch glanced over at Reid, and saw that he was shivering. Hotch remembered that Reid was born in Vegas, and wasn't accustomed to the cold quite yet. Hotch grabbed a spare comforter, and tucked Reid in. He smiled, and then pushed that pesky strand of Reid's hair that never seemed to cooperate behind his ear.

"Merry Christmas, Reid." he whispered. With that, he left Reid and retired to his own bed.

That night, both men dreamt about sugar plums and candy canes...........

"............aw...........sweet right?!? hope u liked it! And I hope I didnt screw up the sugar plums and candy canes line up! I could remember how it went! Please R&R!"


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